Database Develop

Question:Games picture quality

I was playing Raging Thunder 2 last night and it made me want to ask this question or raise this issue to anyone that could have an effect on or shed light on. The graphics on raging thunder 2 as well as a few other games on the nexus are as good if not better than that on the psp. So why then are there only a few decent games with good graphics, and also why not a full psp well working emulator. It seems like the gaming community is growing yet nothing all that great is being produced(no offense, just a statement based on visual display opinion). Just want to get some feedback from people that can give it to me. Thanks.

First of all, let me kill your hopes of the psp emulator (sorry!). Emulators require in excess of 10x the processing power, which is a long ways off. Android is still working on getting all gameboy games to run without skipping frames (last I saw).
As far as the well-developed games go...you have to put a lot of effort into making a game with good graphics. You also need a market for the game to sell. There are a lot of psp games because you can sell them for $40 and get a large amount of people to buy them. Good luck selling pretty much anything for $40 on android. For most people, their phone is not a gaming platform.
That said, I must agree with you on the disappointment on available games. I can understand having poor graphics, but I feel that there should be more games with greater depth and gameplay available.
This is all of course just my opinion. I am sure there is more going on than I said.

[App] WP Bench - now with online charts

Hello,
short news: new version of WP Bench hit the Marketplace just few hours ago. WP Bench is by many a standard benchmarking tool for Windows Phone, or "one of the most comprehensive benchmarking utility (the Engadget) seen so far..." First version had approx. 4.79 stars from 5 with more than 41000 users. As many users wanted online charts and score in form of “this is bad, average, or great” new WP Bench does both in a big way. Users can publish their (speed test and battery test) scores to the online charts, compare with others or just browse pies of OS versions, maufacturers, devices and, what’s important to many, sneak for new unreleased devices etc.
Notice: as we are finally able to publish apps in our country, I don’t need the account Microsoft Czech provided me in February. So I’ve transferred WP Bench to my new personal account. Problem is that users of old WP Bench will not be notified about the new version today released. Please download the new version as scores from both versions are not comparable.
New WP Bench features deeply tweaked tests (CPU singlethreaded, CPU multithreaded, memory and storage read/write with configurable block size, GPU acceleration, display color reproduction and battery life), new online charts with ability to publish your score to the database and its trial version is FULL featured and $free. It's now also available in new markets, for example Japan.
Screens are here:
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Best regards,
Robert Varga

will try this...

Real Racing 2 game to android market

Hi guys,
In case you don't already know this superb racing game with unmatched graphics and gameplay you really must check it out.
http://youtu.be/TOfG1zJbKbQ
The game features licensed cars and 15 player multyplayer mode.
Please help drawing the developer's attention to port this game in android market and leave your thoughts here: getsatisfaction.com/firemint/topics/will_real_racing_2_get_in_the_android_store

Sorry but i think this ain't gonna happen. This is a real console quality game, they spent a lot of money to develop it and optimize it to make it work perfectly for the a5 soc: porting it to Android will lead to insane costs in order to make it suitable for a hundred different pieces of hardware.
Nowadays Apple's app store sells 85% of all the mobile apps in the world, a serious game developer with working brain cells will never spend millions just in order to get to that additional 15% of the market that we represent. Also i'm pretty sure that even the most powerful hardware we have now on this platform would be unable to run this game properly: the gpu in the a5 soc is twice as powerful as the mali-400 in the GS2...

vnvman said:
Apple's app store sells 85% of all the mobile apps in the world
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just wow, wasn't aware of this fact
vnvman said:
the gpu in the a5 soc is twice as powerful as the mali-400 in the GS2...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm just stunned, in every video comparasson of 4s and sgs2 the iphone gets bashed... come to think of it nobody mentioned in any comparassion (and i watch a lot) about the gpu/chipset diferrences... i guess it's never gonna be a fair "trail" between them and everybody is more or less a "fanboy" of either two..
L.E. after your post did some research and found this http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111026235448AArPNUy , it explains everything.
Thanks and ppl might as well leave this topic to "die"...

Well actually when i say that the gpu of the iPhone is faster i mean it really is faster, even on paper: it's not a matter of software. I read it here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4686/samsung-galaxy-s-2-international-review-the-best-redefined/17
When i got this phone i knew that the iPhone4s (or even the iPhone4) would have been better for games, but all in all despite the fact that mobile games can be fun at times mobile gaming in general kinda sucks in my opinion: sure you can have the best graphics in the world and whatnot, but the only games you can really play on a small touchscreen panel without going nuts are puzzle games (which look great on the huge Samoled+ of this phone), and those ones run on pretty much every piece of junk. At the end of the day those are the games you play the most when you're on the go, while instead those haeavy 3d games are mostly useless because of their complexity (not to mention the amount of battery they drain), so you end up playing them when you are at home on the coach. This sounds pointless to me because if i'm at home i'd rather like to play Battlefield 3 on my gaming rig: now this makes sense, don't you think?

Real Racing 2 was released yesterday...just saying...

What the.. EA? The original maker is Firemint?
Either way, here's the link. Only compatible with my Desire HD, and not the Galaxy Note? What the...
https://market.android.com/details?...yLDEsImNvbS5lYS5nYW1lLnJlYWxyYWNpbmcyX3JvdyJd
Article:
http://phandroid.com/2011/12/22/rea...the-android-market-leaves-part-1-in-the-dust/

LordManhattan said:
Only compatible with my Desire HD, and not the Galaxy Note? What the...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could test this version for your Note: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.ea.game.realracing2_na (not sure if it's compatible though).

Thanks, but it's a no go Just have to wait i guess.

What are some of the best Android games?

What are some of the best Android games to use the power of the nexus? I mostly play computer games, right now my main game I play on my phone is Texas Hold 'Em.
I am also aware of N64 and Playstation emulators, will probably mess around with some games on those. But right now I feel like I'm missing a void. I have this power house phone and I only play Hearthstone and poker on it.
What can you recommend me? I mostly enjoy multiplayer games. I absolutely can't stand waiting games, like Clash of Clans or Boom Beach. Sorry for being so vague

Hey, if you're into arcade-type games and don't mind wasting some time away there is a cool pinball one called Zen Pinball HD; be forwarned it only comes with one table and the rest require a small sum to be spent. They just released a Portal (from Valve) based table which I'm addicted to at this time. This one is single player.
Otherwise, if you want multiplayer there is one called Taichi Panda which is multiplayer and has stuff going on at all times. They have just received an update which raised the level cap. If you decide to jump on this one, play on server US-S16 Gubbly and add me, my IGN is LiQuiDDiGitZ.

It depends what you like really.
Dead trigger 2 looks great with the graphics set all the way up, however I don't like the control system.
Some of my favourite games that look nice:
Warhammer 40,000 Space wolf (beta) - Geeky turn based strategy
Need for Speed Most wanted - Arcade racer
GT Racing 3 - Nearly simulation racer
Hitman Go - puzzle / micro strategy
Modern Combat 4 - FPS, much better control system than Dead trigger 2
Edge of Tomorrow - FPS based on the Movie
Sould Calibur - Sega Dreamcast "port" beat em up
Galaxy on Fire 2 HD - Space flight / trading / dog fighting
Limbo - 2d platform game
Frozen Synapse Prime - Sort of a turn based strategy
GTA San Andreas - Needs no introduction
IMHO Emulated games are always a let down. The controls work poorly on a touch screen and the graphics are never as good as native games. PSP games look OK but you're stuck with one joystick which is a pain in modern gaming.

6 best multiplayer android games 2016
1. Clash of Clans - is without doubt the most grossing game on every ones list. Not to forget, the game has already been awarded the best multiplayer game in 2013. This probably is one such game which shall never go out of trend. Here, basically what you do is protect your village from the enemy.
2. 8 Ball Pool - This one is for all the peace loving people out there. Generally people associate multiplayer games on android with fighting and war; but this is one of the best games to keep you busy and well entertained. If you like billiards and you can play it well on your android phones, then this is it for you.
3. Ice Age Village - Now that is something, isn’t it? All you do is unlock levels by building up a new habitat for all the characters from the movie. Though there isn’t much to do (unlike COC, which needs you to come back every once in a while), but it surely is a great way to pass your leisure time.
While you visit the villages created by your friends, you also get additional benefits and points. What makes this game stand out is the fact that it needs nothing much to be done; just work on it when you feel like doing nothing and you have your way out!
4. Asphalt 8: Airborne - is a one of the best racing multiplayer game on Android. A game from Gameloft needs no definition, and this is asphalt we are talking about. This is one of the most trending game from the entire series of Asphalt and I am sure it has surely been the all time favorite of any of you!
5. Modern Combat 5: Blackout - This one is probably the ideal replacement for Call of Duty on your android phones. This is a great multiplayer game on your android devices. Team up with your other friends on the game and fight the enemy. The leader boards allow you to keep a track of how fairly you have performed; all you need to do here is make use of the right weapon, right tactic, at the right time.
6. Words With Friends - The best multiplayer game to always keep up with the times when you are bored. This game allows you to chat with friends, challenge people who you think you can out do and of course better your vocabulary. Play it with the best possible person who matches your level and see if you can still be the winner.

Limitations Make you a Better Dev: How to Improve Efficiency and beyond.

Hear me out for a few minutes guys.
Programmers now days are great...right? No... they really are not. Because programmers are making programs/games on extremely powerful machines (if you think about it) and have zero concept of "limits". A game for example, Titan Fall on PC is 50GB's. Why... for the love of all that is good, is this game 50GB's? Why? Because the programmers that made it suck. There are so many games that take up WAY too much space and take WAY too much power to run...
BUT
But this is NOT the programmers fault... They were not trained correctly. Hence my topic point.
Limitations Make you a Better Dev.
What is a limitation? It's something that limits you, like a gallon container can... only hold a gallon. Makes sense right? Well, let's move on the programming. Most programmers now days are making games/programs in what I like to refer to as "Creative Sandbox Mode". They don't really have limitations. They can almost do anything! But this is a problem... let's see an example to illustrate the reason why.
We will use the game "Kerbal Space Program" as our example for this topic. (Fantastic Game BTW) For those who have not seen/heard about it. It is a game where you build space rockets in, for the most part, a very well simulated Solar System. You start from a planet similar to earth. The only difference is the size of everything is scaled down. But just keep in your mind, "You build rockets to go to space".
Now, moving on...
When this game came out at first as early access. It was basically a sandbox, while you had no "God mode", you had access to all the rocket ship parts and they had zero costs. You could build anything, and people made all kinds of nonsense, went to the Mun (Game's name for the planet's moon) and beyond to other planets.
Sounds great right? It was... but then something changed a few years later.
Career and Science Sandbox were added. What is this? Well it's a mode with progression in mind, Career has you earning money through space missions and contracts, and Science Sandbox requires no money... but requires "science" points to acquire new parts.
You start out now...with very limited parts, and the things you are asked to do in the missions seem "impossible" at first.
"You mean I have to get to orbit with ONLY these parts? WHAT? THERE IS NO WAY!..."
Except...it was possible. Suddenly people, while under a great limitation, began to progress. They learned new and better ways and deigns to make more efficient rockets. You advance, and learn and become better. You progress, slowly unlocking more parts...but always being under this limitation wall, it forces you to grow and learn even more.
Now...end game. You've unlocked all the parts. You build the "best rocket" you can muster. Compare it to your "best rocket" while you played in Free Sandbox mode... It's a 1000x better. It can go much further on less fuel, it's less heavy, and it has far more research and science ability that ever before. Smaller rockets can now go beyond the moon and back, where as before, huge ones barely made it into orbit...
What does this mean? Now...with your super efficient skills, you can go EVEN further than ever before, you're able to truly maximize the potential of the parts given to you.
You've become efficient . You've become a better player.
But the KEY here for relation to my topic is... "truly maximized potential"
Now, let's get back to programming. Now that we have an understanding of what my point is. Back in the day, game developers had extreme limits. Hyper tiny storage sizes, extremely low amounts of ram and processing power. You couldn't just do whatever you wanted. The PC wouldn't even run.
Look at games like Super Mario Bros, a classic simple game... But, fast forward to later in the NES's lifespan, look at Megaman. The difference in total quality, and game play, it's a night and day difference. You go from a super basic, jump on enemies, beat the same boss over and over, running through basic one color levels... to a game that has a "level select" and unique and difference bosses, and... TONS of different enemies. You see levels with lots of animations and color! Holy crap! This is amazing! AND WHAT!? YOU GET WEAPONS THAT DO DIFFERENT THINGS!? *mind explodes*
See what happen? NES programmers got better over time, they learned to maximize what the NES could do despite its limits. Games that at the start of its' life that would have been thought impossible... were suddenly happening.
So let's fast forward to today... what do we have? For the most part... our computers today have near limitless abilities. Most computers have over a 1000GB's of storage, over 4GB's of ram (if not over 8GB), and processors that can do millions, if not nearly billions of calculations per second... Vs computers with 32KB's of Ram, 1 MB of storage, and a 10 mhz processor.
So we should be seeing games with extremely outrageous levels of ability and graphics right...? No... we don't. Well, we have a few. And I think the reason is older devs who were used to coding efficiently. They suddenly become god like. But new programmers? They don't understand limitations like older ones do... so they code poorly without knowing it. This is why you have games like Dark Souls 2, which on PC runs at 60fps at 1440p without the SLIGHTEST hint of issues. (Seriously, it's the smoothest PC game I've ever seen). But then games like Arkham Knight, just barely run at all. (if it even starts...) Also... the version of the Dark Souls 2 that contains all the DLC and improvements to the game (SotFs), weighs in at 23 GB's. Whoa... that's so much! ... Well, it's an extremely huge game, most playthroughs will last you at least 50 to 70 hours. There is so much to see in the game, and it's intense. And...then you have Titan Fall. A multiplayer game with a few maps, no singleplayer (at least when I played it), and it's 50GB's? What? Why? Even GTA 5 is 55GB's (ish) and it's an absolutely MASSIVE map, with detail unlike any seen before. And they crammed it into 50GB's? Wow. While Rockstar and From Software have had a few bad ones *cough* GTA IV and Dark Souls 1 on PC *cough*. They still proved in the end, they knew how to properly make a PC game.
Also, for an example of "getting a ton" from very little processing power. Look at the gameboy advance. It had a 16.78 MHz processor... yet look at the outrageous abilities it had. Look at the games, compare them to mobile "games" (Mobile games are trash). Could you honestly recreate The Legend of Zelda: A link to the past run with just 16mhz of power? If someone didn't tell you it was possible, you'd most likely say, "You cannot do that...". But you can, they did. This is highly efficient coding.
Another example is Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 and 2. If you've not played this game series, I advise you ALL to look it up. This game, released in 1999, was coded by one man. And in 1999 (where the average CPU was Pentium 3) this game let's you build Parks, like with roller coasters and rides. This game could have THOUSANDS of guests (People in your park, 1000 to 4000+) , all with different likes and needs (ride types, needs like food or the restroom), with dozens, if not 50 to 100+ rides going on at the same time... and it ran perfectly fine. In fact, when I played it, I never remember it ever slowing down or crashing, not once. Could you build an entire game with 100s of rides and 1000s+ of guests each with their own unique needs, and plus all the other things going on, on a Pentium 3? With ZERO lag and near instant startup?
This is just one of my issues with devs/programmers today. It's not just about games, or graphics in games mind you. It's about programs, applications, media, just everything. Devs today, learn in a near unlimited environment. They don't learn tricks, they don't learn workarounds, they don't learn how to truly maximize what they have because nothing forces them too.
Now, as a big note... I don't want to sit here and sound like I'm saying any devs are dumb, or don't work hard. I don't mean that at all, because it truly isn't their fault. Schools and such today don't teach with limitations, in computer science and in everything else (that's another topic).
They don't force you to make a massive game that fits in a CD (700MB) that runs well, they don't teach you how to truly optimize, they don't teach you how to overcome limitations because they don't challenge you with limitations.
Limitations, force you to get better. I ask that all new and aspiring devs now days, to try to limit yourself... because in the end... you'll become a far better programmer than you thought possible! You created an android app that runs fine on a snapdragon 810? Alright, how about you make that same app run just as well on a phone with a dual core processor and half a GB of ram from 2010. Start with limitations, you'll think... "This is not possible" , but image to yourself that it is the only way... you soon start finding tricks and learn how to overcome the limitations and create an app that works fantastically with very minimal power and resources. Then, with your new found efficiency skills, you'll see a whole new world of possibilities on more powerful chipsets. Just like in the space game, when you are forced to do more with less, you soon found yourself able to go much further than before when you did have more.
Limitation Forced Growth increases your efficiency. This can allow you to make night and day more powerful applications that run with far less power.
Discuss.